Grinding On Snakes - 2

In the end, there really was only one option for Daiki to choose.

He accepted the mission.

A half an hour later he found himself walking through the streets of Konoha on his way back home. He could have made it back within less than a minute if he wanted, but he was in no rush at the moment and his thoughts were heavy.

'Maybe accepting it was the wrong choice?' he mused, stroking his chin in thought as he absently walked down the street, anyone in his way giving him a wide berth instead of getting in his way.

He didn't make room for other people, they did it for him.

Still, could have accepting the mission been the wrong choice and the true basis of the test? Perhaps the old man testing or not if he had the maturity to not choose something beyond him?

'Neither could have been the right or wrong choice even.' he mused. In the end, all that really mattered was results. If he actually made something of his choice then it clearly wasn't the wrong answer.

Daiki sighed, rubbing his forehead, 'Tricky shit like this are a pain in the ass, I'd much rather just fight head on instead of subterfuge.' he huffed.

'If it helps, I think you made the right choice,' Isobu consoled him, 'While it isn't exactly playing it safe and comes with risks, the rewards outweigh them and on top of that accomplishing this will go in your favour as far as merit goes. Besides, you will be the one negotiating from the point of strength and with the advantage and have much to offer them, not only can you use your made up story about Raiga to your advantage and return the Kubokiribocho, you also know where the remaining lost blades are and Kiri itself also has something of your village as well that isn't any lesser than the Kiba blades.'

Daiki paused.

That was right. He did know where the remaining blades of the seven swordsmen were. Kiri still had one, Kisame had one, Daiki had one and would return another, and he knew exactly where the other three were.

Orochimaru had them.

So it would be in their best interest to ally with Konoha if they wanted to see them again.

On top of that, Ao had the Byakugan. While personally Daiki felt the Kiba blades were far more useful than the Byakugan, and it especially didn't even come close to Isobu, the Byakugan was still highly regarded as one of the two best doujutsu in the world currently.

And Kiri had stolen one.

'…Hmm, I can work with this.' he grinned.

He nodded to himself and picked up his pace, walking a bit faster towards his home, his worries easing up a bit.

Things were so much easier when you realised you were the one in the position of strength.

Though one thing was still fishy.

'You'll depart fifteen days from now.'

That was what old man Sarutobi had said to him. It was matter of fact, no room for debate and full of assurance that Kiri wouldn't at all knock them back.

Which told him either the old man had some dirt on them to make them comply.

Or-

He'd already been in correspondence with Kiri.

And considering they were looking to be allies and knowing the old man, Daiki was leaning towards it being the second of those two options.

'So I have a week of training myself and then I'll be spending eight days training with the old man before heading to Kiri.' Daiki mused.

Going by the distance, he could be in Kiri within three days, one day of on foot travel and two for a boat ride, though if he pushed it he could be there even earlier. Actually, he could probably get there within a day and a half if he just water walked and ran across the ocean to Kiri.

If he did that, he could be back in Konoha within a week if the negotiations went well and get right back into the grind and have another good eight days or so time before the third round of the exams.

'No time to waste then!' Daiki nodded to himself, before abandoning his leisurely pace and disappearing in a blur of speed with the shunshin.

_______________________________________________

When he arrived at his home, Daiki was surprised to find someone already waiting for him.

He half expected Anko to have tracked him down already, but it wasn't her.

Instead, it was his cute little white eyed apprentice who was leaning against the wall around the outside his compound beside the entrance and waiting.

"What's up firecracker?" Daiki greeted her with a grin as he landed.

Her white pupil lacking eyes somehow lit up, don't ask him how, he couldn't explain it if he tried, but they surely did.

As expected of his cute little apprentice.

"Aniki." Hanabi greeted him with a nod, a small smile appearing on her face that she quickly smothered a moment later.

Not fast enough to hide from his truly glorious eyes though.

He ruffled her hair, getting a pout from her, that was quickly hidden as well, before he opened the gate to his home, "Come on in." he waved at her off his shoulder, gesturing for her to follow him.

He led her inside and sat down on one of the benches inside the outer garden and gestured for her to take a seat beside him, "So what brings you here?" he asked her.

"You told me to come find you after you returned from the chunin exams." she replied succinctly, sitting down beside him.

…He did do that didn't he.

Though he wasn't exactly expecting her to turn up literally within an hour of the exam ending.

Well, he could respect the hustle.

"I did, didn't I?" he nodded, "Though if you've come this fast, I expect you've made some progress then?"

"Yes," Hanabi replied simply, "I am now capable of summoning the giant tiger to my side, though it uses up almost all of my chakra to do so."

"Good on you!" Daiki laughed, actually quite delighted by the news and pat her on the head. Sure, the tiger wasn't all that strong prior to the summoning contract, only about as useful in combat as a standard chunin and the chakra amount would reflect on the strength and power of the beast, but considering Hanabi was eleven and still had a year or two before she graduated, it was a pretty good feat.

He could easily make this girl as strong as a jonin at this rate by time she graduated! Especially since summoning was such a highly chakra intensive jutsu and using it over and over again with her summon to deplete her chakra quickly would make her chakra capacity grow all the quicker!

Hanabi despite the cold front she tried to put up, was unable to hide the small pleased smile that spread across her lips at his praise and ducked her down down a bit to look at the ground and hide her face from him.

He chuckled, mood easing up.

He'd been in a pretty bad mood up until now, he wasn't going to lie. Not only from Lee and Gai's stupidity and his new pain in the ass mission, but also because he'd learned from old man third…

That the rock humper prick that murdered him before had left the village already once he found out his team had failed to pass, he hadn't bothered sticking around.

He'd been tempted to chase them man down, but thankfully his apprentice was here to cheer him up.

"So, how are you getting along with the tiger?" he asked, "Actually, have you named her yet?"

"She attacked me the first time I succeeded in summoning her," Hanabi admitted, "Though father was overseeing my attempts at the time and so easily rebuffed her, since then I have managed to get her to at least listen to me me and no I have not named her."

"Hmm, kind of expected since it was me who kicked her ass and not you the first time and her strength will be growing already," Daiki mused with a nod, "Still, you're on the right track, the best way to make friends is to kick their asses and show them kindness after that, establish both your dominance and your compassion towards them in the same breadth, it also works on attracting women."

Everyone was attracted to power. They feared and coveted it. It was just a basic instinct that all living beings shared. Their very first instinct after all, humans included, was survival and the more power one had, the easier it was for them to survive.

And if one could not obtain such power, the best option beyond that, was to attach themselves to someone who did have that power and women had an advantage on that front if the one with power was a manly man such as himself.

Sure there was a lot more factors to things like that and it was generally those of lower character that resorted to things like that, those that lacked sufficient courage and willpower, but he wasn't one to overlook an advantage like that. If women wanted to throw themselves at him because of his strength, he would happily accept them.

If they were hot.

And for a time before he kicked them to the curb, because few of them would be worth keeping.

"Why would I want to attract women?" Hanabi peeked up over his hand to give him an odd look, "I'm a girl." she pointed out.

"I don't judge." he shrugged.

Which was a lie. He judged people quite often, without shame. But he had to be a positive role model for his cute little apprentice.

Hanabi's odd look did not fade, but she said nothing and just sighed before changing the topic, "So what should I do now?" she asked.

Ah, training, the grind, the most holy of all topics.

"Keep up your summoning of the tiger, try and do it every day and exhaust most of your chakra as possible each day and name her, establish a good relationship between you both," he replied, "Beyond that, you don't need my help with taijutsu since you train with your father on that side of things. Though on that note, do you know your elemental affinity?" he asked.

"I do," Hanabi nodded, "Father had me tested for it as soon as my training began when I was young. Though it is frowned upon in the clan to use elemental jutsu, to reach jonin status it is a must know and as such something all within the Hyuuga clan have tested as soon as they begin training from a young age."

Huh, that was interesting.

And chakra conductive paper wasn't exactly cheap. He knew, he'd checked. As expected of the Hyuuga clan though he supposed, the now most powerful clan in the entirety of Konoha with the death of the Uchiha clan.

"Good to know," Daiki hummed, "So what's your affinity then firecracker?" he questioned.

"My affinity is of the lightning element, aniki." Hanabi replied.

Daiki blinked, before grinning, "Well, isn't that a coincidence, my first natural element was lightning as well," he replied, "Must be fated that you became my apprentice."

Or would have been if that dirty bitch fate actually had the tits to mess with him. But she should know better, lest she get a Bijuudama up the ass.

'Ah yes, threaten one of the possible omnipotent forces of the universe if they do exist, such a smart move, I am in awe of your genius.' Isobu commented dryly.

"Didn't you say fate doesn't exist?" Hanabi questioned with a snort.

"I did and I stand by that, it was just a joke," Daiki responded, before grinning, menacingly, "Besides if Fate did exist, she'd keep her distance from me cuz' if she tried to get funky with me I'd make her my bitch."

"…You're such a weirdo aniki." Hanabi rolled her eyes, but was unable to hide the small grin that appeared at his words.

"Cultured actually thank you very much," he laughed, "Anyway, how about for now, I teach you the first stage when it comes to lightning manipulation, and I might even teach you a jutsu."

"…Okay," Hanabi nodded in agreement, "A lightning jutsu would be helpful to pass my inevitable test to become a Jonin in the future, even if I won't be able to use it in battle."

"And why's that?" he raised an eyebrow at her.

He already knew the perfect lightning style jutsu for a cute little Hyuuga like her. His Lightning Style: Elekiter would go amazingly with her Gentle Fist.

"The clan would frown on that." Hanabi replied simply.

Daiki rolled his eyes, "No apprentice of mine will have jutsu and refuse to use them," he snorted, "If they whine at you for it, you can just tell them I gave you permission as your teacher and if they have a problem with it, they can come whine about it to me, and then I'll kick their asses and assert my dominance and show them why I'm clearly right and they're wrong."

Just another show of his words before on how to go about her partnership with her tiger summon, now just applied to her clan.

"Sure, okay." Hanabi accepted his words with a shrug.

Ah, see, this was why his apprentice was way better than Naruto's. She already listened to him properly.